66 
ANACARDIACEAE 
2. CROTON L. 
Perennial herbs, woody at base, with alternate entire leaves. Staminate 
flowers in racemes, the calyx 5-parted with as many glands alternating 
with the lobes. Stamens (in ours) about 9 to 11. Pistillate flowers 
mostly solitary, the calyx 5-parted and the ovary 3-celled; styles twice 
forked. Pod 3-lobed. (Greek kroton, a tick, the seeds resembling that 
insect.) 
1. C. californicus Mull. Arg. Stems branching from a woody base; 
herbage hoary except the green upper face of the leaves; flowers of the 
staminate racemes soon deciduous, leaving a naked axis; pod scurfy, 6 
mm. broad.—Sand hills near the ocean. 
3. RICINUS L. 
Herbs or small trees. Leaves large, with prominent glands on petioles. 
Raceme with the staminate flowers above and the pistillate below. Sta¬ 
mens many. Styles 3. Fruit a large 3-lobed pod with 3 large seeds. 
(Latin ricinus, a tick, on account of the shape and markings of the seed.) 
1. R. communis L. Castor Bean. Ours an annual 1 to 4 dm. 
high; in the tropics perennial and 8 to 11 m. high.—Cult, from the Old 
World for ornament and from the earliest'times for the oil of the seeds. 
The oil is an effective yet harmless purgative, though its active principle 
is not yet known. All children will testify that its taste is so uniquely 
nauseous as to be a scandalous outrage. 
4. EUPHORBIA L. Spurge 
Involucres solitary in the forks or in terminal umbels, with 4 or 5 
teeth alternating with as many glands, the glands often with colored mar¬ 
gin. Several staminate flowers (each consisting of a single stamen) 
and one pistillate flower (consisting of a single pistil with a 3-celled 
ovary and 3 bifid styles) are included in an involucre which itself re¬ 
sembles a flower. Fruit a 3-celled pod, each 1-seeded. (Euphorbus, King 
Juba’s physician.) 
1. E. serpyllifolia Pers. Thyme-Leaf Spurge. Stems prostrate; herb¬ 
age glabrous; leaves small, all opposite and more or less unequal at 
base, stipulate, obovate or oblong, serrulate at apex ; glands of the in¬ 
volucre with a petal-like white margin.—Stream beds and low grounds. 
2. E. leptocera Engelm. Stem erect, branching at base, 2.4 to 3.8 dm. 
high, the branches forking above; lower leaves alternate, obovate to 
spatulate, entire; uppermost leaves opposite or in threes, more or less tri¬ 
angular; stipules none; no colored margins to the glands.—Valleys and 
low hills. 
ANACARDIACEAE. SUMAC FAMILY 
Trees or shrubs with resinous or milky acrid juice and alternate leaves. 
Flowers in clusters, small, regular, either perfect, polygamous or dioeci¬ 
ous. Calyx commonly 5-parted, a disk lining its base. Petals commonly 
5, the stamens as many or twice as many. Pistil 1, superior; ovary 
1-celled, 1-ovuled; styles or stigmas 3. Fruit a dry drupe.—About 120 
species in subtropical and warm temperate regions. 
Stamens 5; drupe flattened...1. Rhus. 
Stamens 10; drupe globose.. r .2. Schinus. 
